While we are at it, the following is a selection of musicians whose work for me is both sedative and promotes focus (an oxymoron?). Ambient music usually garners a few sniggers, "this is what they play in spas" "whale music" etc, however in my experience can be an incredibly rewarding and effective method of relaxation and enjoyment.

Gas (Wolfgang Voigt) - Pop https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s--IkNqI9og

Brian Eno - Discreet Music https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SE6nQ0lkLdY

Willits + Sakamoto - Reticent Reminiscence https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vdJdDwi1RS4&list=RDdskvPFt7w...

Aphex Twin - Stone in Focus https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IG16BTj5qT4

Bvdub - A Moment's Peace https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=exr3IAMaLPM

cv313 - Beyond The Clouds https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pqrRIDd5pSk

If you enjoy this type of music I thoroughly recommend the Headphone Commute blog. Apologies if a bit off topic.

Great list! Listening to "Gas", I thought you might also like

Fennesz - Venice: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XWAghDS6s4Q&list=PLKtI6DyKnY...

And while we're at it, just a few of my favorites:

Greg Haines - Slumber Tides: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RmMDkZhl_R4

Nest - Retold: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r69TiaIE4uo&list=PLaAArUShcY...

Murcof - (Ulysses, Martes, Remembranza - all great): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OMPaSdC1ncw&list=PLhoTtA1a63...

Iso 68 - Zwei Engel Korrigiert : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1NvkPmMHGBI

Edit: And thank you for the Headphone Commute link - it looks like a great source!

Best list I found in this thread yet. Am I the only one that likes to work to (mostly) instrumental sludge metal and post-rock?

ISIS — Celestial (2000) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M8XN-3YZL5Y

I'm glad you like it :). I think ambience and soundscapes should still have interesting musical elements. If it only works as background noise, then I get bored by it.

I've also listened to Isis quite a lot, mostly "Oceanic", which is great. There is a pretty good remix album of "Oceanic" that opens with a remix by Fennesz.

Let me just throw a few more out there:

Antenne (two albums, just called #1 and #2): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xel8T2A_pKk

Jóhann Jóhannsson - Englabörn: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=StuK0Bxoe2g&list=PL0dYx2N3BT...

The Kilimanjaro Darkjazz Ensemble - Here Be Dragons: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AyORieDhpkg

Kreng - Grimoire: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uU12fCP5AqY

La Grande Bellezza - Original Sound Track (sans disco tracks): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FO8DqDWBzLI&list=PLf8QJjyzKL...

That's probably one of my key focus bands... though I'd probably list:

ISIS — Oceanic https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r2C8Z1Keluk

ISIS — Panopticon https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xA2AJIiw0p8

ISIS — In The Absence of Truth https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=atCKkDusJkc

The latter being a more accessible, earthlier sound (with no growling); yet the former two being the greater works.

Additionally, some classic post-rock masterpieces by GY!BE:

Godspeed You! Black Emperor — F# A# ∞ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wy4IsC5eb7o

Godspeed You! Black Emperor — Lift Your Skinny Fists Like Antennas to Heaven https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PZwQeZh6rP0

As a track is named, the former is bleak, uncertain, beautiful; both melancholic and uplifting with despairing wails and wavering cries of tears and joy. The second is the more known GY!BE album, which is just as good.

Nowadays, I just listen to whatever strikes my mood (I can tune most stuff out), but the ones I listed above were particularly good for focusing during essay writing.

I work to much of the same type of music, although I tend to group instrumental post-rock/post-punk (e.g. isis, pelican, russian circles, mono) with some electronic (e.g. ratatat) and small amounts of punk (tragedy/hhig, neurosis). Compared to what I usually listen to, the brain.fm focus channel didn't do anything for me.

Then we're two at least. :)

This sounds amazing, brilliant recommendation!

If anyone is into similar stuff I recommend Meshuggah - Catch Thirty Three -> it keeps me programming for hours at a time.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7mfMC2DIA1A&list=PLe8GYqVK4w...

Some of my favorites:

Sakamoto Ryuichi / Alvo noto

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m8miUl08uog

William Basinski - Disintegration Loop series

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qYOr8TlnqsY

Ben Frost - by the throat

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8rjcipcBibc

Keith Fullerton Whitman - Playthroughs

https://vimeo.com/8156237

Great list.

Stars of the Lid makes some of the most beautiful music I've ever heard. It's ambient, made with strings and heavily processed guitar. The songs develop into these breathing like rhythms that just push some sort of button in me.

I can listen to it while working, or just on its own really loud to make the details come out.

Stars Of The Lid and Their Refinement of the Decline https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=et_lDyRymrw

The Tired Sounds of Stars of the Lid https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MaSi7Gut7xM

Gas and SOTL are my two favorite ambient artists.

Oh, these are fantastic... spent the last hour sampling them. Thanks for the Headphone Commute tip!

While we're listing things, and on a quite different note (much more "pop" - perhaps too distracting given the context of this post), I'd add the Fez OST (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mYL-5N08JtA)... it's like chiptune Vangelis, and lovely for working and/or on a plane.

(also, Vangelis).

Gas is one of my favorite artists of all time. While I think Pop is a fantastic album, his best is Zauberberg.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UKsLvEkefTc

This album breathes warmth into my soul. So hauntingly beautiful that I think about these soundscapes on a daily basis.

> Gas is one of my favorite artists of all time. While I think Pop is a fantastic album, his best is Zauberberg.

Perhaps under that alias. His minimal acid techno is also unparalleled.

Mike Ink - Playtex (Dadajack): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O30AGIUofRw

Mike Ink & Andreas Dorau - Das Telefon Sagt Acid: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kPFZ-JxQdtc

(He (Wolfgang Voigt) goes by Mike Ink, Gas, M:I:5, Studio 1, Wassermann, et al.)

I am totally digging your style

If you're a fan of such relaxing, ambient fare, I would strongly recommend you check out the fantastic compilation release, 'I Am the Center' [1]. It's got some fantastic selections, including an Eno piece, spanning 1950 - 1990.

[1] http://lightintheattic.net/releases/943-i-am-the-center-priv...

Cannot stop listening to that Gas album. Also Ryuichi Sakamoto has a golden touch. See Loscil, Lawrence English, Nest for more of this kind of music

Need to mention the original: The KLF - Chill Out.

My go to source is http://www.buzzoutroom.com/chillout/ been around for years and always introduces me to new artists, great playlist.

Some of my favorite tracks to code to:

Solar Fields - Sol https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WNiD9M59FQE

Solar Fields - Discovering https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SoYkxKWNzoo

Jerome Isma ae - Underwater Love https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4TINBQPpVi0

Bedroom Lullaby - Kisses In the Rain https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cOZGKjLoo64

Royksopp - Royksopp Forever https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nM_txL43iFM

Shpongle - Around the World in a Tea Daze https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cHlidfF7nK8

Hol Baumann - Benares (Varanaci Edit) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zAKATOLXFOw

H.U.V.A. Network - Something Heavens https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VxI7x5G4nJk

Delerium - Tectonic Shift https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JStpiAOLLKQ

Delerium - Terra Firma https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LKUxE8UE7S0

Angel Tears - Ishka https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bmwiYy1caxA

Tempted by Collide (Conjure One Mix) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d8llGPB8sAM

Trafik - Hard to Resist https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7DmSeClpuAM

Joey Fehrenbach - Behold https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bzZckyU9ylw

Rob Dougan - Nothing At All (instrumental) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fxofkW5iPpI

Jens Gad - Glass Palace https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cF4H0n-dMyg

Sounds like you have similar taste to me. Do you have a spotify playlist? (I posted mine already so ctrl-f for my screen name) .

I don't use spotify. But you're right, your playlist has a lot in common of what I like.

I usually use http://www.jango.com which allows me to create my own radio station by specifying a few artist names, and it will play tracks similar in taste to those artists. I know there are other sites like that, but I'm not sure if spotify has a similar feature. The thing is I don't like playing a fixed playlist over and over, I prefer things being a bit more random, although following the same taste.

Let me add a few more for anyone interested:

- Harold Budd - Jane 1-11 / Jane 12-21 / Avalon Sutra (I really think Jane 1-11 is the gold standard for ambient music.)

- Porya Hatami - The Garden: https://dronarivm.bandcamp.com/album/the-garden

- Hotel Neon - Hotel Neon: https://hotelneon.bandcamp.com/

- Pausal - Sky Margin: https://ownrecords.bandcamp.com/album/sky-margin

- Jared Smith - Fjall: https://ownrecords.bandcamp.com/album/fjall

- Gigi Masin - Talk To The Sea: https://music-from-memory.bandcamp.com/album/talk-to-the-sea

- Gigi Masin - Wind: https://music-from-memory.bandcamp.com/album/wind-3

- Gaussian Curve - Clouds: https://music-from-memory.bandcamp.com/album/clouds

- Takeshi Nishimoto - Lavandula: http://www.sonicpieces.com/sonicpieces018.html

- Bing & Ruth - Tomorrow Was The Golden Age: https://bingruth.bandcamp.com/album/tomorrow-was-the-golden-...

- Nuojuva - Valot Kaukaa: http://www.preservation.com.au/product/nuojuva-valot-kaukaa

- Imprints - Data Trails: https://sereinlabel.bandcamp.com/album/data-trails

---

In case anyone is interested in this kind of music, there's a very related Spotify Playlist I maintain and very carefully curate: https://open.spotify.com/user/michaelfeihstel/playlist/10IcC...

I have Erothyme on repeat for most of my work: https://erothyme.bandcamp.com/album/circadia

I love Nujabes too. I also highly recommend

Boards of Canada: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL0fSIHcxJhECMV53Llj23...

Checkout "Christ." as well. 3rd early BoC member, he's sort of struggling but his music is amazing. He's one of the only artists to ever get an encore from John Peel.

He's reissuing one of his best albums on vinyl and is only 64 preorders away from fulfilling the goal - https://www.diggersfactory.com/project/203/christ-curio-volu...

1) Christ. - Pylonesque - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XXipXsYg1_U

2) Christ. - Glenbrook - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3yIicModMLw

3) Christ. - Perlandine Friday - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LcaNsuqOzwY

His music got me through some times. Especially 2 and 3.

I agree, definitely worth checking out. Excellent musician.

I find the following tracks are great to code to as well:

https://christmusic.bandcamp.com/track/sunart

https://christmusic.bandcamp.com/track/moxley-moy-4-track-or...

(The album the second one is on, overall, is on quite regular office rotation here. Even when it's noisy, it's quite heavily beat driven which at least personally keeps me in the zone.)

Man I'll relay the message, he'll be super happy.

Thank you much for pointing me towards Christ. I'm listening to the John Peel session past couple of days, it's perfect!

> Boards of Canada...

I can't work to Boards, but...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9GgWbgtjVow

Orange...

There's so many good tracks on that album that it's hard to pick out any specifics as being better than the others. But one of my favourites would be Telephasic Workshop:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SCWP6E-rvw8

Man, completely agree. I fell in love with his work years ago and will never stop listening.

Not to compare these, because they're not even the same genre when you get down to it, but while poking around on Google Play Music the other day I found a series of tribute albums to Nujabes by Soul Jazz Collective:

Spring: https://play.google.com/store/music/album/Soul_Jazz_Collecti...

Summer: https://play.google.com/store/music/album/Soul_Jazz_Collecti...

Fall: https://play.google.com/store/music/album/Soul_Jazz_Collecti...

Winter: https://play.google.com/store/music/album/Soul_Jazz_Collecti...

Thought it was very sweet. And they're not bad for when you're just relaxing around the house

Just finished watching Samurai Champloo, where I first learned about Nujabes. I was saddened when I discovered the artist died in 2010. Great music! RIP

I literally broke down and cried my freshman year of college when I heard the news. I was a massive fan of his at the time and I really was devastated. I binged on his music for a couple days and eventually was at peace with it all; its touching to me that his music can have that effect. RIP Jun.

Rest in Beats

So much inspiration in this thread. I mentioned this further down the page, but it's a hobby of mine to ask what music people work to.

This is a goldmine for me.

Thanks a lot for posting, and for trying it out. Would love to hear your feedback, or anyone else's from this thread. Email me any time. Just my first name and brain.fm.

Next week I go back to working on more music themes. We hired a new guy a month ago and he's ready to take over the app, so, this is perfect timing.

Let's see what me and the AI-guy can come up with. :)

- Adam from Brain.fm

For people who liked Arurian Dance, check this out: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lkk6m14htzw (it's where the original sample from, which itself was an adaptation of the Pavane pour une infante défunte by Ravel)

Man that stuff is amazing. You/this comment is exactly why I read comments. GREAT STUFF.

Almost anything by Martin Stimming immediately puts me in the zone for a few hours of coding. E.g. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GMd8VFC-lLQ

I'm giving this one a try. It's pretty annoying when the man starts speaking to be honest. At least when I want to concentrate. But the music is good.

Yeah, that's actually the track I had in mind when I wrote "almost". But most of his music gives me a really pleasant/chilling/surreal vibe that I haven't found anywhere else.

The music I like to listen to while programming is basically trip hop/acid jazz/lounge/world music/some techno.

Some songs that are probably not well known that I like are:

I really like B. Fleischmann's Album "The Humbucking Coil" (particularly "Composure" and "Static Grate").

I also like Meteorology by Overseer .. it sounds like Royksopp. Its a weird song but I like.

Anyway my playlist is here:

https://open.spotify.com/user/agentgt/playlist/7whQGAE4NSps8...

Great list! - Bookmarked! I recently found out Entheogenic[1] and so far loving the music.

[1] : http://www.entheogenic.net/index.html

If you like Entheogenic, I highly recommend OTT - https://ottsonic.bandcamp.com/

Just spent past few hours listening to OTT, thanks for recommending and +1 to them!

So then I highly recommend Emancipator

many thanks! looks good!

I guess I'm pretty weird for programming to tribal punk:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qn9Li6Sh9BU

I used to do it to heavy metal. I joke it keeps the little nagging hyperactive creature inside my brain entertained so it doesn't mess up the rest that's trying to work.

I immediately imagined an Inside Out-like scene where one feeling is trying to concentrate and an army of other feelings plays tuba, rides bikes, cooks, sings, asks about opinions...

Don Slepian makes nice ambient/new age music, and is notable for having made it algorithmically at Bell Labs in the late 70s, where he was artist-in-residence.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wG3_D_CGovg

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UnIygBoO9eM

What's wrong with silence?

At most workplaces, you don't have silence. And even if we had, don't know about you, but absolute silence makes my wind wander more than with a background music.

Music can help people be more creative/productive/focused.

My favourite remains the Drone Zone channel from SomaFM: https://somafm.com/dronezone/

Second are their channels that mix voice with ambient music (mission control and sf police), it's a great combination to focus

Saved, will go through them in upcoming programming sessions :)

I recently discovered pulse emitter and I find it really improves my flow: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0c_RBU-h2Uo

Excellent ! Thank you.. I am sure this will accompany me through countless hours of coding..

There's a before and after to Nujabes - it marks your life, enjoy!

<3 Nujabes RIP

For the hip hop heads check out 9th Wonder: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DBX_ADoO-7E

When I started listening to techno/electro music I quickly found about Nujabes (I am more into the Japanese scene) but later he got into a traffic accident. What a pity to this world.

I was so incredibly sad when I found out that he wasn't around to make more. I haven't found another artist that appeals to me like him. Rest in peace Jun Seba.

Created an account just to say this is amazing. Rest in beats!

For me it's

1. Absolute silence (as in - no music)

2. Pink Floyd (mostly Wish You Were Here)

sergiotapia imagine in 5-10 years you leave a comment like this and then come back and write ... wow crap the AI is soo much better than the talented artist I loved for life! I just wanna go back to his stuff for nostalgia sometimes but honestly it's not even close. Can you imagine that?

I've been listening to Nujabes's various albums going on 11 years now, so I don't have to imagine that scenario. His music isn't going anywhere.

If you like Nujabes, try Fat Jon too.

I'll second Fat Jon (full title Fat Jon the Ample Soul Phsyician).

It is very similar music to Nujabes.

Word.

I was blown away when I encountered Nujabes. His accident was such a shame.